Motherhood on Ice

Cryogenics, art and keeping things human

Xin Liu, The Mothership (2023). Courtesy of the artist and Make Room Los Angeles. Photo: Daniel Greer.

This week I’ve been intrigued by a story that has been in the UK headlines. It’s about the somewhat unscrupulous and highly profitable commercial world of human egg freezing. Now stick with me here, I will get to the art eventually.

Apparently women who are paying to prolong their ‘reproductive window’ by having their eggs extracted and put on ice for the foreseeable are being ripped off left, right and centre by the private medical companies that provide these services. These clinics are not always transparent about costs — which can spiral when you add in the additional hormonal medications that you might need, the annual freezer storage space, and the eventual IVF treatment on top of the basic package.

And now we learn according to a BBC study that over 40% of clinics are potentially in breach of advertising guidance on the success rates for pregnancy. It can be a painful and emotionally draining procedure, and there are concerns that patients are undergoing treatment that they might not need and which might not work anyway.

Back in 2009 there were just 230 egg freezing cycles in the UK, when the technology was used almost exclusively for medical reasons for women who were undergoing chemotherapy or experiencing conditions known to cause infertility. Since then there…